Revenge & Reassurance
by RedScarfedSoldier
Summary: Mikasa Ackerman finds her superior in a risky situation that leads to a need for revenge, and he can't believe what he's seeing.


AN: This is based on a prediction of Ch. 58 of the manga. I apologize ahead of time for the mistakes or if it's really badly written or anything. First fanfiction, and I haven't written anything involving interactions between characters since seventh grade. ;-; -runs away into corner and hides behind scarf-

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It had been far too long since their last set of orders, and in all honestly, she was getting pretty bored. The rest of her squad, with the exception of Armin, had all decided amongst themselves to cease their trust in Levi and had left the two childhood friends to their own judgement.

''I'm going to look for him.'' she blankly stated, not altering her usual vacant expression. ''Wait, Mikasa!'' the blonde called out, but she had set off with her 3DMG and was already too far away to hear him. Though he knew he probably wouldn't have been able to stop her in the first place. He had thought of going after her, but while he was remarkably intelligent, his skill lacked in comparison to hers, and her speed greatly surpassed his. It would probably be better to stay put anyway, in their situation.

She had passed over multiple rooftops, through various alleys, and looked down countless main roads, she was about to give up, return to where Armin was and just patiently await for who knows how long until they were given something to do, but then she saw him. Him and numerous dead soldiers. She couldn't quite make out who, but she suspected it was none other than Squad Hanji… And the one responsible for their deaths was unmistakably him. The man with his gun to her Squad Leader, her Captain.

She could see from where she was positioned that the man had already managed to deliver a small blow to his leg, it wasn't much, but in addition to his previous injury, it was enough to slow him down a bit.

His previous injury. The one she had been the cause of, and the one she still felt undeniably guilty for. She was still inexperienced and her judgement had been clouded by the need to save her adoptive brother, the only family she had left. She had asked about his leg before, and although he said it was fine, she would sometimes catch him limping slightly and that's when the pang of guilt would strike her. After Eren's trial, she had sworn she would make him pay for what he did. And she wanted to. But not like that. Not in a way that could put him at risk, put humanity at risk. He was humanity's strongest, after all.

But she's grown and matured since then, realized that without him, Eren most likely wouldn't be alive, and even though Eren was in danger now, she had put her trust in his decisions and she didn't know when it all started, but she found herself greatly respecting that shorty. Through her growth, both emotionally and physically, she's learned to forget about her own feelings in battle and focus on the prime objective, and even some of his strategies had undoubtedly rubbed off on her.

But now wasn't the time to stop and think about things like that. The mysterious man in the black was about to shoot. Without thinking, she swooped down and flung herself in front of the shorter man, just in time to shield him and deflect the attack with her blade.

''Mikasa! What the hell are you doing here?'' Levi nearly screamed out. He didn't want to put another soldier in danger. He didn't want to be responsible for another death. And definitely not hers. _Most definitely _not hers. She was the only one capable of taking his place if anything ever happened to him that rendered him unable to fight. The once in a century prodigy that could nearly match his skill level. She could be stubborn sometimes and irritating others, but he had to admit, he was kind of impressed with her skill set.

''Well now, what do we have here. Could it be? Mikasa Ackerman? You've grown.'' said the man. ''How…Do you know… My name?'' she replied through ragged breaths. She was shaking, partially because of anger, partially because this creepy man, the one responsible for the deaths of her comrades and the wounding of her Captain, knew of her. And she most definitely did not know of him.

The man laughed a villainous laugh. ''I knew your parents. You were nothing but a little tot when I first saw you, and I knew then that you would grow up to be a beautiful young lady. Looks like I was right. We would have gotten a pretty penny if we managed to auction you off! What a pity. But seeing how you're now getting in the way of my objectives…. I'm starting to think I should have ordered them to kill you, too.''

Her heart sank as she stood there wide eyed in horror. Did she hear him correctly? No. She couldn't have. But she did. And she knew she did. This was the man who ordered the men to kill her parents. This man….Is the reason she lost her family.

Something exploded inside of her, a flaring need for revenge. This man wasn't human. He was a monster. A monster that needed to be mercilessly killed.

She flung herself towards him at an astonishing speed, red scarf flowing in the wind behind her, but he was not a slow man, nor was he an inexperienced fighter. It didn't take him long to start sending shots at her in near rapid fire. But she had swift reflexes. She was somehow managing to block every gunshot sent her way, whilst slowly but surely closing the distance between them.

She was an extraordinary soldier, but she wasn't perfect. One of the two bullets he shot had managed to only just brush past her blade, and it struck her shoulder, it was more painful than any injuries she had received in the past. But she didn't have time to concern herself with her own wounds. She had to do this. It was the least she could do to avenge her parents.

She recovered quickly, ignoring the searing pain in her left shoulder. and that's when she found her opening. He had to reload his right gun, leaving him currently only firing with one, and the second it took him to do so, albeit only a second, was enough for her to get the advantage. She closed the remaining distance with one short lunge, and slashed into his left arm.

Levi stood in shock. When and where did she learn to fight like this? This was the same stupid brat he had to stop from seriously injuring herself in a mindless fit of rage not all that long ago.  
He was observant, he had seen signs of her improvement since then, but he didn't think she had improved _this _much. All in less than a minute, she had evaded and deflected countless shots, and severed his left arm. And that's when he snapped back to reality. Shit, he should be helping her.

Kaney was fully focused on Mikasa Ackerman, he took this opportunity to get out of sight and make his way around a building to get behind him. He peered his head around the corner of a small two story house behind Kaney, and that's when his eyes caught Mikasa's. He gave a quick nod and she instantly took a small step in the opposite direction to avert his gaze further away from where Levi hid in attempt to lessen his chances of being seen.

That was all the signal he needed. While the older man's attention was still on the girl in front of him, Levi hastily ambushed him from behind, pinning him as Mikasa shoved her blade through his chest, causing him to fall to the ground bleeding.

In a fit of rapid coughs and gasps, he barely managed to breathe out the words ''You'll….Pay….For this!''  
With that, Mikasa decided she wasn't through with him yet, and gave his nearly dead form a swift kick to the skull followed up by the placement of her boot upon his head.

They stood next to their bleeding victim, almost as if admiring their achievement, as they tried to calm their uneven breathing.  
As her adrenaline rush faded, Mikasa found herself gripping her shoulder in pain.

''Fuck. We have to get you patched up.'' Levi stated, in an almost urgent tone.  
''What about you?'' she questioned. 'I'll be fine.''

''Let's go.'' he said as he slowly cast his eyes towards the remains of his fallen comrades.

Later that evening, while she was preparing herself a cup of tea, she heard the soft sound of foots steps drawing closer. She was already fully aware of who it would be, and didn't bother turning around to check. She expected some form of scolding from her superior for diving in front of him and putting herself in danger like that.

''Oi, Ackerman'' he exclaimed casually as he stepped up beside her, bearing his usual unreadable expression.  
She waited patiently for him to continue. ''….Nice job.'' he said softly as he gave her a surprisingly gentle, almost playful, punch to the shoulder opposite her now treated injured one.

As she watched him walk away, she brought her scarf up across her cheeks to cover her growing blush.

Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
